I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

As we move into winter, heartier dishes start to become more and more attractive, and a good, simple roast chicken fits the bill admirably. On the other hand, a slightly less simple roast chicken will also fit the bill. Sticking slivers of foie gras under the skin of fowl before roasting it is a fairly common technique, at least among those who habitually keep foie gras around the house. I am not one of those people, but I do often have pâtés or terrines hanging about.

One of the advantages of using a terrine or pâté is that the spicing has already been done for you when you made it in the first place. So as long as you like your pâté, most of the work of seasoning the bird is done before you start.

A while back, a friend gave me some black rice to play with, and I've used it here and there already, like in this Sausage and Sauerkraut Stuffed Chicken. Eventually, however, with rice and rice like objects, my mind eventually turns to risotto. It sounded like a good match with the chicken for some reason, and, in the event, it was.

• a chicken
• 1/2 stick of butter
• an equal amount of pâté

Put the butter and the pâté in a food processor and blitz until smooth and well mixed. The idea, of course, is to get some more fat into the mix, which wouldn't be needed if you were using foie gras which is so fatty to begin with.

Take the chicken and gently work your fingers up under the skin, working from both ends. Loosen it as much as you can and try to avoid tearing it. Then take your butter and pâté mixture and gently cram it up between the skin and flesh. Squish it around a bit to try to get even coverage.

Put the bird, breast up into a 350F oven for half an hour. Flip it over and give it another half an hour. Turn the oven up to 375, flip it breast side up again and let it brown for another ten minutes or so.

• 2 medium portobello mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 1 cup black rice
• about 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup or so Parmesan cheese to finish

Add the stock in increments of perhaps 1/4 to a 1/3 of a cup, stirring it in well, and letting it simmer, again stirring frequently, until it's nearly all absorbed before adding the next dose. Repeat this throughout the cooking process.

Stem the mushrooms. Slice the tops and dice the stems. Add the stems to the risotto at about the twenty minute mark so they have a chance to cook thoroughly and break down into the risotto.

When the risotto looks like it's absorbed about all it can take, somewhere around forty minutes, add the rest of the mushrooms. They'll take another five or ten minutes to really get integrated, so let them have their time.

Add the cheese, mix well, taste and, if necessary, adjust the seasonings. The stock and cheese should provide enough salt, but who can say?

This recipe will take forty-five minutes or so, so if you're making it with the chicken, do the cutting and prep after you stick the chicken in the oven and start cooking when you flip the bird the first time.

The risotto isn't as creamy as a more traditional risotto, which is not surprising given the black rice, but the color is fantastic! It's a deep, rich black with the portobello pieces poking out and the bits of onion glistening here and there.

The chicken is moist, from all the fat and goodness stuffed in it, and the rest of the pâté breaks down and makes a sort of a sauce, which oozes into the risotto and elevates it a touch more.

Delicious.